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DEADLY FORCE, WEAK CONTROLS

Author: PERRY BROTHERSPERRY BROTHERSPERRY BROTHERSPERRY BROTHERSPERRY BROTHERSPERRY BROTHERS

Publication info: Cincinnati Enquirer [Cincinnati, Ohio] 19 Dec 1999: A.1.

Abstract: In the six-year period, Cincinnati officers shot less than half as many people as did police in Columbus, Cleveland or Indianapolis. Since 1994, Cincinnati police have shot at 32 people.

Full Text:

Oversight, discipline erratic in police shootings

Enquirer investigation Day 1

By PERRY BROTHERS

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Six times in the past two years Cincinnati Police have shot and killed people. In the previous four years, they shot and killed two.

To understand the increase, The Cincinnati Enquirer launched an examination of the use of deadly force, including a file-by-file analysis of every shooting by an officer since 1994.

The investigation revealed the number of police shootings in Cincinnati was lower than in most other regional cities. However, the review also found that a confusing policy, ill-advised maneuvers, spotty training and inconsistent discipline have put officers and citizens at risk.

Most alarming, inexplicable gaps in oversight make it difficult to know when the use of deadly force was justified.

A deranged woman with a 14-inch butcher knife stepped closer and closer to Cincinnati Police Officer Dawn Keating. When she was less than 10 feet away, Officer Keating shot four times. Four times she missed. The woman crawled under a bed before giving up. An internal police review exonerated the officer, but sent her to target practice. A city agency legally required to investigate police shootings never got involved.

When police cornered Ralph Schellhammer in a College Hill driveway, the man waved a Civil War sword at the officers and shouted, "You'll have to shoot me." They did. A police review exonerated the four officers who wounded the man. Again, a mandatory review by the city's watchdog agency never took place.

Anthony L. Jackson looked like a suspect wanted in a burglary, so Sgt. James Whalen stopped his cruiser, patted Mr. Jackson down and found a gun. Mr. Jackson tried to run away. Sgt. Whalen ordered him to stop. When Mr. Jackson turned around, Sgt. Whalen said, he had the gun in his hand, so the officer shot him in the leg. Police exonerated the sergeant. Once again, the city's police watchdog agency never took a look.

Every time a Cincinnati officer shoots at someone, hit or miss, a series of investigations is supposed to begin -- within the division and by an external review agency, the city's Office of Municipal Investigations (OMI).

However, a Cincinnati Enquirer investigation of every police shot fired since 1994 found that OMI, created to prevent police from abusing their authority, failed to investigate almost a third of the shootings. As a result, the public must rely on the police to say whether their shootings were justified.

The Enquirer review also found:

The number of police shootings is low. In the six-year period, Cincinnati officers shot less than half as many people as did police in Columbus, Cleveland or Indianapolis.

Since 1994, Cincinnati police have shot at 32 people. Officers missed 11 and wounded 13. In eight cases, the shots were deadly.

Officers who violated police policy or procedure in deadly force cases rarely received both discipline and retraining -- a crucial combination, experts say.

In almost a third of the shootings, officers fired at suspects in moving vehicles -- a practice experts consider unsafe because it can turn the car into an unguided missile. After the Enquirer raised questions of safety, the division changed its policy. Still, experts say the change doesn't go far enough.

Cincinnati's deadly force policy is unnecessarily long and confusing, and could endanger officers, experts say. They say it should be streamlined and revised to include guidelines for firing weapons in off-duty or undercover situations.

Cincinnati allows officers to fire warning shots -- a practice experts say has been banned by most departments nationwide. The warning shot label, experts say, can be used to mask intentional shootings that miss the target. Warning shots also contradict the rules governing deadly force, which allow police to shoot only to save a life.

About 78 percent -- or 25 -- of the people police shot at were black. About 78 percent of those arrested for violent crimes were black. Of the officers who shot, 75 percent were white -- which mirrors the racial makeup of the 1,000-member division.

Lapse in oversight

Though few Cincinnati officers ever fire their guns on the streets, the increase in shootings since 1997 has raised questions about whether police are too quick to reach for their guns.

A lapse in the city's oversight process makes the answers hard to find.

Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey -- who supervises both the police and OMI -- refused repeated requests to be interviewed about the city's oversight. He referred calls to OMI itself.

Although the agency often does so, OMI was not required during the Enquirer review period to investigate the four warning shots, 38 animal shootings or 18 accidental shots -- even if, as in one 1995 case, a civilian is hit. In that case, an officer said he was fending off an attacker when he accidentally shot a man standing behind the suspect. OMI started but never finished a review.

The office is required by city ordinance to investigate when a police officer deliberately shoots at someone. Yet, of the 32 times police did so, OMI failed to investigate nine cases, in which officers wounded six people and missed three.

Eight of the nine cases happened on the watch of former director James Johnson. In a November interview, Mr. Johnson said he didn't recall the shootings.

Mr. Johnson went on to say that OMI was short-staffed and that an investigator might not have responded to the scene if no one was hit.

After it was pointed out that city law required the agency to respond -- hit or miss -- Mr. Johnson said he wanted to retract his statement.

"I think we would have responded," he said. Even if there was no ruling, OMI should have a record of the cases, Mr. Johnson said.

OMI has changed computer systems and methods of searching for cases several times since then, he said. "Not even having a file number, not having a case number, I find that hard to believe."

His successor, Ernest McAdams, led the search for OMI records of the cases after the Enquirer sent him a list. Mr. McAdams said before he took over in 1997, the office wasn't notified by police of some cases or it was notified and made no ruling. When City Council hired Mr. McAdams, it increased the number of OMI investigators from three to five and reduced the agency's duties.

However, the ninth shooting that slipped through without review happened in October 1998, after Mr. McAdams took over. Off-duty Officer Robert "Blane" Jorg fired five shots at an intruder in his home. The intruder escaped.

Mr. McAdams said OMI has no record of being notified about the shooting. But Linda Backscheider, who oversees the notification process in the police communications office, said her records show an investigator was called.

Since learning of the Enquirer's findings, Mr. McAdams said he has ordered police to notify his department of every shot fired.

"I'd like to know about all of them and then we'll decide after that if we want to investigate," Mr. McAdams said.

"Most powerful authority'

Shootings by police "should always be a hot issue," says Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher Jr., who took over the division in March -- just two weeks before officers fatally shot Michael Carpenter during a traffic stop.

"Deadly force is the most powerful form of authority that anyone has in the nation," the chief said. "Only police officers have it. Not the Army, not the Navy. But it's also a tough issue because it means second-guessing the split-second decision made by officers who risk their lives every shift."

Just over 4 percent, or 44 officers, have shot at a civilian since 1994.

Most of the civilians were armed. Of the 32 cases in which officers shot, 15 of the suspects had guns, five had some type of knife, one had a brick, one a rock and a board. A car was considered the deadly weapon in nine cases and the other suspect was unarmed.

During the same period, Cincinnati police officers were assaulted nearly 1,200 times.

Ugly evidence of the danger police face on the street rocked the city in December 1997. Spc. Ronald Jeter and Officer Daniel Pope were shot to death while serving a warrant. Less than three months later, Officer Kathleen Conway Hood was seriously wounded when a man forced his way into her police cruiser and shot her three times.

"Deadly force is in response to something. We're not in the driver's seat, so to speak, as to the reason those things happen," said Cincinnati Safety Director Kent Ryan. "Those are small numbers. They are not large. They are particularly not large when you consider the number of police-citizen encounters."

Community leaders say they understand that police must protect themselves, and they point out that only three of the eight fatal shootings since 1994 have prompted outcry.

"I believe officers deserve perfect respect and when they tell a person to stop, really, they should stop," said civil rights activist the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. "But the policeman's job is to apprehend and to bring to court and then the judge says whether or not the person committed the crime. Until we get to that point, we will never have ideal police-community relations."

Uneven discipline

Since 1994, when officers made mistakes in deadly force cases, the division often identified the errors but only sporadically issued discipline or ordered further training. When discipline was handed down, the Enquirer found, it was unevenly applied.

For example, former Chief Michael Snowden issued a written reprimand -- and no training -- to an officer who shot and wounded a man, even though an investigation showed the shooting was unjustified because the officer was out of danger when he fired. The penalty was the same as that given to officers who fired accidentally and hit no one.

Retraining coupled with discipline is the only way to ensure an effective policy, experts say.

"If you don't hold the officers accountable and you don't somehow discipline the officer, then you create a custom and practice of allowing that kind of behavior," said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminal justice professor, considered a leading authority on deadly force. "So the next one who does it says, "Well, wait a minute, you know I did the same thing Officer X did' and you run into an enormous problem."

Officers in six of the 32 cases involving shooting at civilians received discipline or retraining -- only two of them received both. The two most recent shootings remain under investigation. The investigation has been completed in a third case, in which discipline is expected.

Former Chief Snowden was in command during most of the period studied by the Enquirer.

Since Chief Streicher took command, he has ordered retraining and discipline for two officers involved in controversial 1999 shootings.

The officer in the only other unjustified shooting case during the period studied, Police Spc. Cecilia Charron, was suspended for five days and ordered to retrain after she shot at, but missed, a man as he slept in his parked van in Winton Terrace in February.

"Sometimes, I think about it and I thank God that I survived," said Mr. Alfonzo, who is now suing the city.

Chief Streicher also coupled discipline and training for Officer Brent McCurley, who fatally shot Mr. Carpenter during a March 19 traffic stop in Northside. While police said the shooting was justified, Officer McCurley received a written reprimand and 40 hours of remedial training for tactical errors and procedural violations he made leading up to the shooting.

For years, discipline in the division has been unevenly applied and poorly enforced, said Cincinnati police Detective Cecil Thomas -- a 27-year veteran and president of the black officers' group, the Sentinels Police Association.

"If you're going to pick and choose who to hold to the policy, then you have a policy that's worthless," Mr. Thomas said, adding that some black officers feel they are held to stricter disciplinary standards than their white counterparts.

Chief Streicher said cases must be reviewed individually. Mitigating factors -- such as the officer's past performance and his perceptions at the time of the violation -- should be considered. However, he said, the division is revising its policy with an eye toward standardized punishment.

Former Chief Snowden said he supports standardized discipline. He said, it was tough to make punishments stick because Civil Service mediators or independent arbitrators often overruled penalties.

Only four times since 1995 have arbitrators let division-issued discipline stand, records show.

The arbitrators are "sitting there thinking, "God. What would I have done if this guy came at me with a stick or something like that' and they are more lenient towards the officers," the former chief said.

Expert review

For a closer look at Cincinnati's deadly force cases, the Enquirer sent the city's policies and police summaries of the shootings to four nationally known experts.

First, the experts noted that Cincinnati has had few shootings overall. They also praised division investigators for catching officers' tactical mistakes, such as approaching a suspect in an unsafe manner or shooting when a partner was in the line of fire.

Experts acknowledged that deadly force cases are difficult to judge because the critical factor is the officer's perception of deadly threat and because police officers so often meet violent resistance.

"In almost any of these situations, had the citizen stopped and put their hands up, shots would not have been fired," said Lawrence Travis, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati.

Second, the experts expressed grave concern about the division's moving-vehicles policy, which allowed officers to shoot if the car was being used as a weapon.

The division changed that policy after the Enquirer began its review. Officers now can shoot at a moving vehicle only if an occupant is using something other than the car as a deadly weapon.

The change doesn't go far enough, says Carl B. Klockars, professor of criminal justice at the University of Delaware.

"I don't think that there's one case (where police shot at a moving vehicle) that they could point to where the officer was saved or a life was saved," Mr. Klockars said. "You can't kill a car."

Chief Streicher said there must be room for exceptions.

"There are some people out there who will tell you, "If you try to run a policeman over with a car, the policeman ought to kill you.' In some circumstances, maybe that's true," he said.

Third, the experts noted that Cincinnati's policy on deadly force is unclear and outdated.

"It was surprising to me to see a policy of a major city that is so sloppily written," said William A. Geller, a researcher and author who works with the U.S. Department of Justice and has studied hundreds of deadly force policies. "Confused cops are usually not the best city employees."

An example of confusion is a lengthy section that describes when officers may shoot fleeing felons, misdemeanor suspects and juveniles, he said.

Since 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed police to use deadly force only if the officer perceives immediate life-threatening danger to himself or others.

"I don't care if it's a shoplifter or Charles Manson. What matters is whether the person is endangering life or limb," Mr. Geller said.

Cincinnati Police Lt. Col. Richard Janke said the section serves an important purpose.

"Felonies that involve serious physical harm become connected to decisions about using deadly force," Lt. Col. Janke said.

For example, if a suspect fired a shot during a bank robbery and then ran down the street with a gun in hand, he could pose a greater threat to life than one who had not fired.

However, Mr. Geller said the policy should clearly and simply state that officers may shoot only when a suspect poses an immediate threat to officers or civilians.

Fourth, the experts raised concern about the use of deadly force by off-duty and plainclothes officers.

The division trains off-duty and plainclothes officers to call for on-duty, uniformed officers to make routine arrests and traffic stops, but it is not addressed in the deadly force policy. Writing such guidelines into the policy gives them added weight.

Mr. Travis pointed to 11 cases in which officers who were off duty or in plain clothes approached suspects rather than waiting for uniformed back-up.

"It was actually kind of surprising that there weren't undercover officers shot by other officers," Mr. Travis said. "That's a dangerous situation because you have officers showing up on the scene and you have bad guys and good guys all running around with guns in plain clothes. It's hard to tell who the other officers are."

Several of the suspects in these cases later told police that they had refused to cooperate because they thought they were dealing with robbers, not police.

Proper procedures for undercover and off-duty situations are covered at the police academy, former Chief Snowden said, but there is no formal training for officers before they start undercover assignments.

"There's an assumption sometimes that the individual knows what they're doing," he said. "But it needs to be (addressed) as soon as somebody's put into old clothes even for a day."

Finally, the experts noted concern over the practice of warning shots. The division's deadly force policy allows officers to fire if "convinced a warning shot will possibly save a life or alleviate the need to take a life." Cincinnati officers have fired four warning shots since 1994.

"Many police departments have a flat prohibition against firing warning shots. They're dangerous," Mr. Klockars said. "They're in contradiction of the fundamental rule that you don't fire a weapon unless you are in immediate danger of being killed or having somebody else killed."

In the Tristate, several departments ban warning shots, including the Butler and Clermont county sheriff's offices and the Boone County Police. The Hamilton County Sheriff allows them.

"You don't get over it'

Shooting a civilian changes an officer's life.

Chief Streicher remembers vividly how he criticized himself after he shot and killed a drug suspect in 1980.

"Nobody comes into this job to kill people. You come into this job because you have a belief in a lawful society," Chief Streicher said. "It's not just shoot and walk away. There's a tremendous amount of investigation that goes on, a tremendous amount of public criticism, a tremendous amount of self-criticism."

The shooting, the self-doubt and the rigors of the investigations, left a lasting impression.

"You don't ever get over it," Chief Streicher said. "Mine's almost 20 years old. I think about it all the time."

By the numbers

Cincinnati Police have killed or wounded 21 people since 1994.

(figures from 1994-Oct. '99)

Cleveland - 18 fatals, 32 non-fatals (50 total)

Indianapolis - 9 fatals, 37 non-fatals (48 total)

Columbus - 12 fatals, 33 non-fatals (45 total)

Cincinnati - 8 fatals, 13 non-fatals (21 total)

Louisville - 7 fatals, 6 non-fatals (13 total) Source: Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville police

City-by-city

To compare Cincinnati's use of deadly force, the Enquirer gathered data from police departments in four regional cities and ranked them based on ive measures -- population, size of the police force, homicide rate, violent crime and violent crime arrests. Cincinnati ranked below average in most of these categories from 1994 to September 1999. * Only in shootings per 100 homicides did Cincinnati rank highest because Cincinnati had the lowest number of homicides.

Shot per residents (100,000) **

Indianapolis - 0.18

Cleveland - 0.15

Columbus - 0.10

Cincinnati - 0.08

Louisville - 0.07

Shot per 100 officers **

Indianapolis - 0.07

Cleveland - 0.04

Columbus - 0.04

Cincinnati - 0.03

Louisville - 0.03

Shot per 100 homicides

Cincinnati - 9.66

Columbus - 9.43

Cleveland - 8.90

Indianapolis - 7.31

Louisville - 4.36

Shot per 5,000 violent crimes

Columbus - 6.40

Cleveland - 5.64

Indianapolis - 5.52

Cincinnati - 4.84

Louisville - 3.89

Shots per 1,000 violent crime arrests

Columbus - 3.70

Indianapolis - 2.48

Cleveland - 2.44

Cincinnati - 2.00

Louisville - 0.50

* This comparison uses only police shootings that wounded for killed.

** Average population or number of officers for the time period, divided by the average number of shootings during the same period.

Source: Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville police

AGENCIES WITH REVIEW POWER

By PERRY BROTHERS

After a Cincinnati officer shoots someone, up to six investigations can follow:

Cincinnati Police homicide unit: Responds to the scene and investigates for criminal violations.

Hamilton County prosecutor: Reviews findings of the homicide investigation and determines if a crime was committed by the officer.

Cincinnati Police Internal Investigations Section: Responds to the scene, reviews the other investigations and looks for policy and procedural violations.

Cincinnati Office of Municipal Investigations: Required by city law to begin an immediate investigation at the scene of all intentional police shootings -- hit or miss. The city agency was designed to serve as an independent watchdog and report its non-binding rulings to the city manager.

Cincinnati Citizens Police Review Panel: Has the option of reviewing other investigations for thoroughness and accuracy after they are complete. The new panel held its first meeting in October.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ): Conducts its own probe for criminal violations in some cases, including the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Collins in 1997 and Michael Carpenter in 1999. The FBI completes a preliminary investigation and presents the findings to DOJ, which determines if a full-scale investigation is needed.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

For this series, reporter Perry Brothers examined every case of a shot fired by Cincinnati Police and created a database to analyze all the factors. Over several months, the reporter studied data from four regional cities and interviewed dozens of officers, administrators, experts and citizens.

Perry Brothers covers Cincinnati Police for the Enquirer and has worked as a general assignment reporter and as a business reporter. E-mail: pbrothers@enquirer.com. Phone: 768-8503.

Dianne Gebhardt-French is assistant local news editor. She directs reporters covering police and courts. E-mail: dgebhardtfrench@enquirer.com. Phone: 768-8409.

David Wells is local news editor. He directs the staffs of the Metro, Kentucky and Tricounty newsrooms. E-mail: dwells@enquirer.com. Phone: 768-8600.

Rosemary Goudreau is managing editor. She directs the daily operations of the newsroom. E-mail: rgoudreau@enquirer.com. Phone: 768-8311.

EXPERTS WHO REVIEWED SHOOTINGS

By PERRY BROTHERS

For this series, the Enquirer asked national experts in policing and the use of deadly force to review cases in which Cincinnati Police officers fired their weapons. They were chosen based on published work and recommendations by the Department of Justice and police officers. They are:

Carl B. Klockars, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Delaware. Mr. Klockars has worked with several police departments to revise and strengthen police policy, training and tactics. He worked with the police department in St. Petersburg, Fla., after a 1996 police shooting led to violent riots. He helped guide the department through significant changes in the department's deadly force policy.

William A. Geller, a deadly force expert for more than 20 years. He co-authored the last comprehensive national study of police shootings, Deadly Force: What We Know, for the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., in 1992. Mr. Geller regularly works with police departments across the country on police shooting policies and procedures. He is working with the Department of Justice analyzing a number of police shootings.

Lawrence Travis, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. His textbook, Policing in America, has been reprinted numerous times during his 15-year career as a policing expert.

Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina who specializes in police car chases and use of deadly force. For this series, he examined 11 motor vehicle case summaries. Mr. Alpert has studied policing for more than 15 years.

A mistaken shot in the dark

Officer fired atsleeping man

By PERRY BROTHERS

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ciro Alfonzo's thick, brown hands shake when he talks about the February night a Cincinnati police officer shot at him while he slept in his parked minivan.

The bullet missed but the memory plagues the Cuban-born Winton Terrace man.

Police said the officer's decision to shoot was unfounded. It was one of two unjustified shootings among the 32 times that police have shot at civilians since 1994. The 46-year-old man posed no real or immediate threat, division investigators found.

Mr. Alfonzo remembers the white flash and deafening noise of the gunshot.

"I feel very paranoid and concerned about the police," said Mr. Alfonzo, who has filed a lawsuit over the shooting. "Every time I see them I feel nervous . . . I don't even trust them anymore."

A fight with his wife that winter night left him without a place to sleep. He told police that he was parked, with his boss' permission, in the parking lot of the little grocery where he worked. Mr. Alfonzo was asleep in the back of the van when one officer threw open the side door and another fired a shot through the back window into the dark van.

It was over in a matter of seconds.

The officers never identified themselves as police, an internal investigation found. They didn't turn their cruiser's headlights on the van. And, when Police Spc. Cecilia Vincent Charron fired her gun, her partner was in harm's way.

Spc. Charron was suspended for five days. She was ordered to training and, after a routine psychological evaluation, Spc. Charron returned to duty.

Retraining for seven-year veteran Spc. Charron included instruction in weapons and shoot-don't-shoot scenarios. Her partner, Officer Darian Bookman, met with a superior officer to review procedures he should have used.

In statements to police investigators about the shootings, Spc. Charron first said she could see into the van, "but not that clearly." Nine days later in a follow-up interview, Spc. Charron said she "could see all the way through to the front of the van." She said she fired because she saw Mr. Alfonzo lunge violently toward her partner.

In a disciplinary hearing report, Capt. G. Alan Matthews said Spc. Charron's explanations for what happened that night were "without merit and void of Division training and practice."

Spc. Charron, 31, who declined to be interviewed for this series, has had an exemplary career -- her personnel record shows high praise in every review and no disciplinary actions.

"Put yourself in her place, it's early in the morning, it's dark, she just maybe overreacted a little bit," said Capt. David G. Ratliff.

Mr. Alfonzo would rather the police put themselves in his place.

He thought he was being robbed. He didn't move but yelled, "Hey!"

"They should have banged with a stick on my van," said Mr. Alfonzo, "and said, "Come on out' or used the speaker and said, "Come on out with your hands up.' "

Mr. Alfonzo says he filed the federal lawsuit against the city and police to teach Cincinnati police to be more careful with their guns. "Sometimes, I think about it and I thank God that I survived," he said.

Toughest decision takes a split-second

By PERRY BROTHERS

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Each day on the job is a gamble. Any situation, any shift could end in death. And the fear of never seeing home again is as much a part of a police officer as the 9mm on the hip.

The second an officer decides to shoot a civilian, he or she makes a decision to exercise a power only granted to police officers. More and more that moment, that decision, is being scrutinized.

Cincinnati's SWAT team leader, Sgt. Randy Rengering, knows the intensity of that split-second; the intensity of killing a man to save your partner's life. He doesn't like to talk about it.

In his 20-year career, Sgt. Rengering has fatally shot two suspects. His SWAT position puts him at the forefront of the most violent police calls.

Sgt. Rengering worries that public criticism and legal wrangling in the wake of police shootings could paralyze an officer's rapid response.

"If they hesitate, they could be the ones going home in a body bag and not the ones going home to their family," Sgt. Rengering said. "You don't have eight hours on Monday morning to decide if you're right or wrong. And, based on that split-second decision, you have to react. That split-second could cost you your life."

Or the life of another officer. Twice, Sgt. Rengering has shot to protect a fellow officer. In 1988, he fatally shot Samuel Smith, 34, who was fighting with Officer Terry Peirano for control of a gun.

In February 1995, the SWAT team was called to a North Avondale apartment building where the partially decapitated body of a 15-year-old girl had been found.

The prime suspect: Harvey Price, the 34-year-old boyfriend of the girl's mother. Mr. Price barricaded himself in a bathroom and after negotiations failed, a group of SWAT officers went in after him.

A struggle ensued and Mr. Price, armed with a steak knife, tried to stab another SWAT member. Sgt. Rengering fired his Smith & Wesson 9mm and hit Mr. Price five times, killing him.

"It's a gutless feeling. You feel empty inside," Sgt. Rengering said, softly. "Even though it's something you have to do at the time, you sit back and realize that you've taken a human being's life."

No one knows national figures on police shootings

By PERRY BROTHERS

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Despite the protests and controversy they provoke, there is no comprehensive data on police shootings across the country.

"It's a scandal," said Samuel Walker, a criminal justice professor at University of Nebraska. "The point is that there is no data on this . . .

"The FBI and the Justice Department should be collecting this so that people like you and me know what's going on. They collect data on homicides and crime, but they ignore the other side of the equation."

Researchers agree that city-to-city comparisons measuring the use of deadly force offer only a glimpse of the whole picture and the numbers -- even in the largest cities -- often are small compared to the number of times police come in contact with civilians.

But collecting the information is important, experts say, because it could pinpoint cities with deadly force problems just as crime data pinpoints cities with high homicide rates or heroin problems.

The lack of reliable data frustrates William A. Geller, who co-authored the last comprehensive national study of use of deadly force published by the Police Executive Research Forum in 1992. The federal government should be keeping a closer eye on police use of deadly force, he said.

"I get about 10 calls a week looking for updated (police shooting) information," Mr. Geller said.

The only standardized national database on police shootings is the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics Justifiable Homicide table. The statistics are based on voluntary reporting by police departments and do not include police shootings ruled unjustified -- or "bad shoots."

In 1997, the latest figures available, 353 justifiable homicides were reported by agencies. An FBI report for the number of justifiable homicides in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland for 1997 listed only three, all in Cleveland.

That same year, Cincinnati had one of its most controversial police shootings -- Lorenzo Collins -- and Columbus also had a fatal police shooting. Both were ruled justified.

The Justice Department promised this year to follow through on a 1994 Congressional mandate requiring the FBI to collect data on police shootings, but no formal start date has been announced.

SHOTS FIR

Since 1994 Cincinnati police have fired weapons 92 times. This is the breakdown. . .

8 fatal shootings

13 woundings

11 times police fired at someone and missed

3 accidental shootings with injuries

15 accidental shootings with no injuries

38 shootings at animals

4 warning shots

FATALS

Carey Tompkins, 28. Oct. 16, 1999. West End. Officer Craig Ball said he shot and killed Mr. Tompkins after the two struggled over a 9mm Ruger in the man's waistband. The case is under investigation.

James E. King, 44. Aug. 20, 1999. Corryville. Sgt. Randy Webb, Spc. Jason Drach, and officers Adrian Gibson and Rachel Folk said they shot at Mr. King, a suspect in an armed bank robbery, after a car chase. Mr. King was ordered to drop his gun and get out of the car. Mr. King got out with the gun in hand. Officers fatally shot him. The case is under investigation.

Michael Carpenter, 30. March 19, 1999. Northside. Officers Brent McCurley and Michael B. Miller II said they fired into the car after Mr. Carpenter refused to get out. He had been stopped for expired tags. Officer Miller reached into the car and was dragged when the car moved. Officer McCurley said that when the car lurched backward toward him, he fired nine shots to protect himself and his partner. Officer Miller pulled free and thought Mr. Carpenter was shooting, so he fired one shot. It missed. Officer Miller resigned. The division said Officer McCurley was justified in shooting, but disciplined and ordered him to training for tactical errors. Cincinnati's Office of Municipal Investigations ruled the shooting unjustified. The FBI and U.S. Justice Department are investigating.

Randy W. Black, 23. July 17, 1998. Corryville. Officer Joseph Eichhorn said he shot twice at Mr. Black, a bank robbery suspect, after a foot chase. The man threw a brick at another officer and a piece of concrete at Officer Eichhorn, injuring his right arm. Mr. Black raised a 4-foot long board with protruding nails on each end and charged the officer. Several Cincinnati investigations cleared Officer Eichhorn in the shooting.

Jermaine Lowe, 21. June 30, 1998. Corryville. Officers Scott Krauser, Scott Bode and Michael Ammann said they tried to stop Mr. Lowe for driving a stolen car. He led the officers on a low-speed chase. Mr. Lowe wrecked the car at McMillan Street, leaned out of the car and fired six shots at the officers. Officers returned fire and the fatal shooting was ruled justified.

Daniel Williams, 41. Feb. 2, 1998. Over-the-Rhine. Officer Kathleen "Katie" Conway Hood said she shot Mr. Williams twice after he attacked her in her police cruiser. He hit her in the face, then shot her three times. He got in the car, pushed her to the passenger side and began to drive before Officer Hood shot him. The officer was exonerated.

Lorenzo Collins, 25. Feb. 23, 1997. Corryville. Officer Douglas Depodesta (and a University of Cincinnati officer) said they shot Mr. Collins after the man, an escaped psychiatric patient, threatened officers with a brick. Officers told him more than 10 times to drop the brick. An FBI and Justice Department investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by officers.

Harvey Price, 34. Feb. 1, 1995. North Avondale. Sgt. Randy Rengering shot and killed Mr. Price during a SWAT standoff. Earlier, police found the partially decapitated body of 15-year-old girl. Mr. Price, the murder suspect, charged another SWAT team member with a steak knife when Sgt. Rengering shot him five times. The officer was exonerated.

WOUNDED

Timothy Blair, 43. Nov. 6, 1998. Walnut Hills. Officer Daniel Carder said he shot Mr. Blair, a shoplifting suspect who assaulted the officer and a security guard, while trying to drive away. Officer Carder punched through the car window, tried to pull Mr. Blair out, became entangled and was dragged. The wounded suspect's car rammed into a van, injuring a 5-year-old bystander. The division ruled the shooting justified but said the officer made tactical mistakes. Discipline is pending.

Eric Brand, 21. Aug. 3, 1998. Over-the-Rhine. Officer Calvin Johnson said he shot the armed robbery suspect in the arm after Mr. Brand pulled a gun from his waistband during a foot chase. The suspect turned toward the officer, who fired six shots, hitting once. Police ruled the shooting justified.

Calvin Way, 30. Sept. 13, 1997. Over-the-Rhine. Sgt. Andre Smith said he shot Mr. Way twice after the man fled a traffic stop and pointed a gun at Sgt. Smith during a foot chase. The shooting was ruled justified.

DArnell E. Brown, 33. Feb. 3, 1997. Avondale. Officer Orlando Smith, dressed in plain clothes, said Mr. Brown tried to ram him with his car before he shot the man in the jaw. Mr. Brown is suing the city and police. Officer Smith received a written reprimand for shooting after he was out of danger.

Ralph Schellhammer, 44. Dec. 24, 1996. College Hill. Officers Michael Savard, Brenda Kelly Schmook, Lisa Myers Dotson and Julie Johnson-McReynolds Shearer said they shot Mr. Schellhammer after he threatened officers with a Civil War sword. A police review exonerated the four officers who wounded the man.

Anthony Mays, 23. Riverside. Sept. 29, 1996. Officer David Brown injured Mr. Mays, who was sitting in his car with a gun. The officer was ordered to shoot at the tires to keep Mr. Mays from driving away. Pellets or debris from the shotgun blast struck Mr. Mays in the jaw. No disciplinary action resulted.

Thomas Adams, 41. Nov. 16, 1995. Walnut Hills. Officer Thomas Raglin said he shot Mr. Adams in the arm after the auto theft suspect nearly ran over Officer Raglin's partner, trying to escape. The other officer had opened the van door and tried to pull Mr. Adams out of the van. Police said Mr. Adams appeared to reach for a weapon and started to drive away. Officer Raglin's partner broke free and fell to the ground with his legs partially under the van. After he was wounded, Mr. Adams crashed the van into a nearby residence. A knife was found in the van. The officer was exonerated.

Kyron Thomas, 20. Nov. 12, 1995. Price Hill. Officer David Russell was breaking up a dice game. He said he shot Mr. Thomas after the man stabbed the officer in the eye with a sharp object and severely beat him. The officer's injuries forced him to retire.

Vincent Henderson, 38. April 30, 1995. Avondale. Sgt. Douglas Ventre said he shot Mr. Henderson in the abdomen during a SWAT standoff, after the suspect shot an officer with another officer's gun. Police ruled the shooting justified.

Gregory D. Sears, 31. April 23, 1995. Fairview. Officer Joseph Milek said he shot Mr. Sears, a suspect in a domestic violence situation, after the man charged another officer with a knife and screwdriver. Mr. Sears was hit in the leg. The shooting was ruled justified.

Blain Hileman, 18. Nov. 8, 1994. Price Hill. Officers David Hall, Michael Dunn and Peter Ridder said they shot Mr. Hileman after he walked down the street brandishing a rifle. He refused to drop the weapon and repeatedly pointed the rifle toward the officers, who fired and hit him twice. The shooting was ruled justified.

Anthony L. Jackson, 37. Nov. 8, 1994. Avondale. Sgt. James Whalen shot Mr. Jackson, a burglary suspect, after a struggle for Mr. Jackson's gun. The suspect tried to run away. Sgt. Whalen ordered him to stop. When Mr. Jackson turned around, Sgt. Whalen said, he had the gun in his hand and the officer shot him in the leg. Police exonerated the sergeant.

Nicdarrylondo Crew, 17. Jan. 3, 1994. Over-the-Rhine. Officer Johnny Martin said he shot the youth after the suspect robbed patrons at an unlicensed social club at gunpoint. Officer Martin had heard one shot from inside the club and assumed a defensive position on the sidewalk. The officer saw the youth run from the club with a gun in his hand, identified himself, and ordered the youth to stop. The youth fired at the officer who returned fire. The youth was hit in the right buttock. The officer was exonerated.

Cincinnati and UC police officers gather evidence at the scene of the shooting of Lorenzo Collins in 1997. The gun belt, which belonged to one of the officers who fired fatal shots, is being turned over to a Cincinnati sergeant.

District 5 Sgt. Jeff Hughes fires his 9mm Smith & Wesson service weapon at the firing range in Evendale. Police fire often in training, rarely in the field.

Police Chief Tom Streicher, left, and City Manager John Shirey are key decision-makers in police discipline.

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

Officer Brenda Kelly Beyersdoerfer was misidentified as Officer Brenda Schook in Sunday's main news section in a story about police use of deadly force.

Subject: Shootings; Deadly force; Violent crime; Criminal investigations; Arrests

Publication title: Cincinnati Enquirer

Pages: A.1

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 19, 1999

Year: 1999

Section: NEW

Publisher: Gannett Co., Inc.

Place of publication: Cincinnati, Ohio

Country of publication: United States

Source type: Newspapers

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 237251246

Document URL: http://research.cincinnatilibrary.org:2075/docview/237251246?accountid=39387

Last updated: 2010-06-11

Database: Cincinnati Enquirer

Bibliography